Why Some 1-Ups Don't Flicker Before Disappearing

[@BeefinOut]

Imagine being commissioned by Pannenkoek to draw art of heartfelt arrows. Every artist's dream.

[@Ken.-]

It was probably DALL-E

[@zahrannahyan9666]

​@@Ken.- there are credits for the artist in the description

[@PGerman.]

Arrow Yuri

[@Tlaloc1]

@@PGerman. arrow yuri

[@OutbackCatgirl]

​@@Ken.-naff off lol

[@youknowvenus]

wow! playing this as a kid i always oscillated 3000 units away from that 1-up so i never knew it didn't flicker! thanks for blowing my mind❤

[@PsychorGames]

You just made me lol out loud.

[@Supernoxus]

That destroyed me. Rip in peace.

[@MakerManX]

​@@PsychorGames lolol

[@TheNadnerb]

You are a true soldier 🫡

[@AllahDoesNotExist]

Yes same but I played blindfolded so still didn't know what flickering actually was.

[@tigerlily603]

truly a heartwarming story. i hope the grey arrow and blue arrow can put their differences behind them and finally come together as one.

[@michalswag]

hi lily

[@CompleteBSRecords]

it's red tho edit: nvm, why is this entire comment section on crack

[@michalswag]

keep watching

[@tigerlily603]

@@michalswag hi michał!

[@somethingtheoneandonly]

​@@tigerlily603hi lily!!!

[@ForteGX]

I love how when the 1up looks back at mario while flickering it is actually different frames and not the same frame toggled

[@TheJinxCast]

Nice pfp karenchad

[@jumponeverything]

And that he uses the low poly Mario model because of how far away he is

[@ForteGX]

@@Pixiuchu AYAYA! AYAYA!

[@youmukonpaku7661]

@@ForteGX S-Stop...

[@supersophisticated9943]

@@ForteGX AYAYA!!

[@Z10ZeeTen]

I'm absolutely loving this new era of pannenkoek with silly goofy commentary and editing it was so worth the wait

[@blueyosh43]

He's always had a bit of humor in his narration.

[@Archer690Channel]

watch for the rolling rocks narrated had tons of memes tho

[@sinklar7946]

@@Archer690Channel I'm just happy that he actually seems to be happy this time around, as I know the WFRR video spiraled him into a horrible depression due to the sheer scope of it at the time.

[@seeforkat]

I'm glad he's embracing the memes.

[@clouds-rb9xt]

@@sinklar7946 A horrible depression? I'm aware there was some document but I don't remember anything like that. Why'd he get depressed? I'm aware he probably suffered from anxiety but the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It's a shame he took it that way, because he really does have a wonderful community. Perhaps the jokes just stressed him out? I dunno, I'm not him.

[@DanHassan]

I think in the Goomba and Bully examples, activeness has an effect on the movement of the enemy. When the Goomba becomes inactive the spot it was in will be the spot it reappears in when becoming active again. Whereas the Bully becomes invisible it looks like it continues along the path it was taking and reappears in a new spot when becoming visible again.

[@YOEL_44]

Well yeah, that's what activeness means, when it's not active it's not doing anything, just waiting. On the other hand visibility is just a graphics effect, you don't see it, while it's still doing things and you can also interact with it.

[@Vallam23]

this might actually be why they programmed the 1UPs that way. since they don't disappear until they hit a wall you could theoretically spawn one and like, save it for later by leaving its rendering radius if it was using activeness. maybe play testers were confused when the 1UP would run away, disappear, and then reappear when they got closer no matter how much time had elapsed.

[@fuzbuzz00]

​@@Vallam23 that's not exactly how it works though. If so, then the trick at the end to make the 1up flicker wouldn't work, and the scuttlebug raising technique wouldn't work the way it does either. I think what we're seeing in these cases is specific to the object being rendered. I.e. I think the goomba code is tied to its spawner's draw distance, while the bullies are independent. I'm not 100% sure of this though

[@Vallam23]

@@fuzbuzz00 good point! I should just assume that if pannen leaves out a detail then it must not be true lol

[@frogmoss10]

@@fuzbuzz00 While goombas do use their spawners to determine activeness (I think), there's a counterexample within the video: the box, which uses a distance activeness trigger from the object rather than it's spawn. It'd be weird if you carried it halfway across the map and it suddenly vanished. Not to mention glitchy, considering this is the trigger for cloning.

[@whatshisface8845]

Words cannot describe how much I've missed your videos, Pannen. Your watch for rolling rocks video is what made me interested in computers, programming and speed-running. It completely blew my mind, I didn't think doing something like that was possible in a video game. I regard it as one of the greatest videos on the internet. Thank you.

[@koth_harvest_final]

good profile picture

[@QuinnActually]

he's still got UncommentatedPannen, and was uploading QUITE regularly there for most of his absence here

[@skylarcat3]

he’s been easily accessible online for YEARS.

[@Amer2703]

He uploads shorts pretty often

[@Chickenatron]

give the guy a break he doesnt want to be held to that bar all the time

[@nate3487]

Honestly that drawing of the two arrows made it all worthwhile.

[@MofoMan2000]

I think the one thing you missed in this was explaining what exactly "visibility" controls in the game versus "activeness". I think the better way to think of this is: visibility only toggles rendering, while activeness toggles all behaviors, which includes rendering.

[@airhead3409]

I felt like the comparison with the bully vs goomba illustrated that pretty well but maybe he could emphasised more that one keeps moving even while invisible while the other one doesn't.

[@zacharymogel9500]

@@airhead3409like the bully still moves around, the player just can’t see it. The goomba stops in place while it’s inactive

[@Chocomint_Queen]

@@zacharymogel9500 Are you.. sure? The goomba literally changes direction while inactive.

[@DjAmaratziOfficial]

I think the reason why they don't target activeness either is so you can pick them up in the frames where they are invisible and flickering, even though it doesn't work, then that's probably the intention.

[@Henrix1998]

This video is definitely heavy in entertainment and not raw info

[@ThatPoppy_]

Thanks to pannenkoek for fullfilling the flickering wish of the 1-up, you're truly a hero.

[@L1N3R1D3R]

pannenkoek's return in 2023 was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one

[@Schimnesthai]

This is the comment i wish i had made first

[@acorngnome]

​@@Schimnesthai Steal it. (JK)

[@AstraParfait]

its awesome to see that he feels comfortable doing commentated videos again tbh

[@xpizzapx]

He's been making shorts for a while

[@applechoco483]

Don't forget the uncommentated channel! That's where all the cool new ABC strats go!

[@TickyTack23]

For anyone who is curious, Visible/Invisible and Active/Inactive are common to find in a lot of game engines. Visibility typically is used for situations where no matter whether the object is visible or invisible, movement calculations, hitbox detection, and other interactivities are processed each frame. While activity is typically used in a situation where you would rather skip all those extra operations when the object is inactive to save on CPU load. And in any programming situation, there's always those unexpected exceptions.

[@hps362]

Did Mario 64 invent that system? It was one of the first 3D games, after all.

[@Sopsy_Hallow]

@@hps362 i dont think that is exclusive to 3D games, you can disable the rendering of a sprite while the object that has that sprite still is active and vice versa, no reason it would be only 3D stuff so it being one of the first 3D games is irrelevant as for if they came up with it, probably not but ig possible

[@PanagiotisPolitis-bl9xj]

You can see this in the video. When mario gets out of the bully's draw distance, it unrenders somewhere and by the time it renders again it has moved somewhere else because it's been active, however, the goomba is still in the same spot after rerendering because it was inactive which stops movement

[@NathanielBandy]

It's incredible that we're STILL learning new things about this game, despite how much we already know

[@blossomajc]

Yea, so cool right!

[@leftysheppey]

I think its crazy about how this game we're still learning so much about, when this is one of the most researched games of all time. Imagine how in depth other games are, but they're just not popular games. Wild times.

[@lombre9149]

pannen already knew everything he is just bestowing knowledge slowly so that we can understand its magnificence

[@DavideoGames641]

For me the craziest thing ever in this game was that we discovered Luigi's files EXACTLY 24 years and 01 month. The legend was real (kinda)!

[@lancesleeps]

Hold up, ain’t you Nathaniel B?

[@EclipseZer0]

Not only did we get commentated Pannen back, but also his narration and editing have become incredibly great! One of the best YT combacks of all time.

[@GLUBSCHI]

Pannenkoek returning has to be one of the highlights of 2023

[@Grushmycoc]

Nah

[@Bruh-zx2mc]

@@Grushmycoc Wrong

[@nohintshere]

and of 2024

[@TheAdvertisement]

10:45 "Distance-Kun, I can't thank you enough." "It's okay Flicker-Chan, you deserved your time in the spotlight."

[@hedgehog3180]

This is obviously yuri they'd both be -chan.

[@TheAdvertisement]

@@hedgehog3180 What so men can't have eyelashes? 😒

[@finnaboing]

whoever drew that arrow art, I appreciate you immensely

[@dary3]

it's in the description

[@nataliegath395]

It's so funny to see how kludged together some games are internally and how it's clear different devs had different opinions/methods. I learned a lot, great vid!

[@protocetid]

AFAIK game programming has always suffered from sloppiness because of crunching and low pay. Have heard industry veterans talk about how they get away with underpaying programmers because they’re excited to be working on a video game. That’s info from a long time ago so IDK how true it still is.

[@InnocentGuillotine]

@@protocetid it's a bit less true for at least Japanese devs of the n64 era from what I've heard but yeah the modern industry as a whole has serious problems with work conditions

[@ZTimeGamingYT]

The return of commentated Pannenkoek was something no one could have expected. Thank goodness I was both not active and KZbin showed me this premiere's visibility.

[@ImSquiggs]

Dude I freakin' love the editing, I really felt what it was like to be a 1-Up in their final moments. That was a super cool moment, haha.

[@toast_recon]

11:00 Only pannenkoek can evoke existential horror when explaining an obscure programming bug in the rendering behavior of a tiny green mushroom in a 27 year old children's video game.

[@ElvenSonic]

that was beautiful pannen. The flickering 1-up and the blue and grey arrows finally working together brought a tear to my eye

[@MarioDSLife]

It’s a great day when Pannen uploads. Always love to learn more about SM64.

[@nicocchi]

I'm so glad that we're getting commentated videos back, even if they're short and not super in-depth like the two previous ones. It's just nice. I'm glad pannen found the energy to do them again, but don't burn yourself out, king

[@TSMSnation]

I'm glade pannen is finally both visible AND active on KZbin.

[@WishMakers]

It's truly amazing seeing your love for computing through Mario 64, and I hope you're enjoying the creation process in some way for these videos :) Cheers

[@LavaCreeperPeople]

Sm64 never aged well but the technical and speedruns are interesting

[@clouds-rb9xt]

@@LavaCreeperPeople It didn't age well, it aged perfectly. Mario 64 is a fine wine.

[@CoxDiesel21]

​@@LavaCreeperPeopleAre you high on farts, my dude? Super Mario 64 is amazing, still, to this day. I still have my N64 and several games. I can crush this game a thousand different ways, and have fun doing it. Explain yourself, heathen.

[@brohanime]

what have we done to deserve a commentated pannen vid?? in all seriousness, glad to know that you're still around and kicking, hopefully you're doing well. your content is absolutely astounding

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

there've been more before this one

[@brohanime]

@@thewhitefalcon8539 yes, i meant another commentated video. he's stated innumerous times that he much prefers making uncommentated videos, so seeing this was a pleasant surprise

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

@@brohanime That used to be the case, but he recently started doing commentary again (for some reason).

[@M4STAGEEK]

this video explains this bug extremely well for people who don't know anything about coding

[@NumbFeet]

I never knew how much the gray arrow was in pain, thanks for giving them the grace they deserve pannen

[@BobzBlue]

The bully continues to move while invisible, the goomba does not.

[@remidd23]

Your channel is definitely one of the best on all youtube! Fixing a bug with brute force... Genius!

[@Bezray]

Please do not go on another 3 year hiatus, I am loving these videos.

[@Hexagonaldonut]

These kinds of conflicts happen *all the time* in programming. It's something you gotta be watchful of!

[@inverse_of_zero]

We missed you so much, pannenkoek! Thank you so much for coming back 🤗

[@metroidnerd9001]

I’m enjoying this new direction for the channel. Now that the A-button challenge has reached the point where updates are very few and far between, I think it’s great that you’re using all the knowledge that you gained over the years of working on it to educate us on both the intricacies of how SM64 works, as well as on the basics of computer science.

[@stuff31]

pannen's analysis, editing style and content in general have only improved with time. some of the best content on this platform.

[@swift0wl]

Everything about the video is so good. The structure, the flow, the way your presented it, and the basic object flickering logic you provided before going into the actual topic.

[@calebhessing7593]

Mario 64 Devs: Fail to properly implement 1-UP flickering. pannenkoek: "Fine, I'll do it myself."

[@TehhCake]

Mixing information and comedy is a very risky thing... Needless to say this was perfect, I almost laughed out loud with the grey/blue arrow art. And when the camera shifted to the 1-up's perspective. God I love these videos, especially seeing the code behind the game

[@T-Bag13]

All these years later and people still analyse this game.

[@TheNadnerb]

I always thought there were 3 types of 1UPs in this game but apparently there are twice as many. Good to know! Also, I’m so glad gray arrow got to have her chance to shine!

[@TheVivi13]

That anime moment when the 1-up flickered was beautiful

[@bakachelera]

I love the way your newer videos come out. The animations and diagrams give it soul. I'm glad you're back

[@Flappy9]

Incredible that you synced up the arrows to the exact frames the object changes state. Shows how much attention to detail you put into your videos!

[@breearbor4275]

this was actually such a good way of explaining the logic to make it accessible to non-programmers!

[@womp6338]

I bet the Mario 64 devs feel silly right now

[@onlysmiles4949]

10:46 What an incredible graphic

[@spiralhalo]

What a beautiful touching story! Finally the gray arrow can be happy, even if it was all just a modded fantasy.

[@RealPaPanda]

I heavily appriciate the editing effort you put In these videos. Illustrating your topics makes it much easier to understand what you're talking about and i wish more coding KZbinrs did this.

[@AlexandraSpeaks]

ngl your video introduced me to this kind of esoteric knowledge style video format and i love it, theres no way that some of the things that have been discovered by people like you was ever intended by the developers i love it!

[@_vija]

cute arrows

[@7411y]

Videos like this are actually pretty good practical lessons for anyone looking to go into coding - in this case, a) teaching you the sort of bug that can occur when using the wrong object property to achieve the same visual effect, b) what happens when more than one trigger calls the same function after the first call, and c) the importance of cross-referencing your damn code with other peoples' when working together!

[@elio7610]

Beautiful to see gray arrow's dream be realized.

[@SlavTiger]

i love learning about coding and game design, and you make it easy to learn deconstructing this game in various ways and explaining how each thing works, its caveats, and even bugs.

[@rydervanwaveren]

2 videos in a year?!?!? We're been blessed

[@CatKat4008]

This is literally the type of video I'd watch on my switch when I don't have any other device available, I love it

[@loszhor]

It never ceases to amaze me what people do with their free time and how interesting it always is.

[@Ariamaki]

I love the production and style on the enumeration of the 1-Up types. Very cute visual and audio design, clean and informative. True Pannen Power.

[@Agilo3]

Never knew I needed this information.

[@TheOttomila]

This video has an unimaginable care for details, great job

[@chuckchuckster8704]

ludicrously high quality video

[@ItamiFromBoomBeach]

thank you for your videos for existing. Now I feel very bad and your videos helps me. You are the best

[@andrewmat]

These analysis shows me that even though the code is quite flawed, the final product can be great. As a programmer this is meaningful for me

[@SuperMidH]

I love watching these videos. They're always so concise, and any time there is a little joke or visual gag it never takes away from the video no matter how much they always surprise me to see.

[@Star60WasTaken]

Interesting find! I wonder though if this oversight might have been accidentally intended. See there’s one thing you didn’t mention with activeness and visibility and how they differ. Assuming my modern game knowledge applies to a game made in the 90s, when an object or entity is invisible/not rendering the game still thinks it’s there and continues to perform any scripts and whatnot related to it. If something isn’t active then the game flat out forgets about it until it’s active again. This means if there is code currently running that tells the mushroom to move away from Mario and the mushroom turns inactive, it’ll freeze in place until active again or depending on how it was written the mushroom might stop moving all together once active. There’s a good chance that originally those mushrooms did use activeness to dictate their draw distance but then a bug was discovered and a developer tried to patch it out by changing activeness to visibility, therefore making the game continue to move the mushroom away from Mario regardless of if he should be able to see it or not. However they probably didn’t realise they created a new issue in the process… just a guess. Neat video though! This was pretty interesting to watch.

[@Hion_in_brawlstars]

Yeah

[@RainyDayDance]

I really dont have a great grasp on technical mario 64. hell I can't even install rom hacks for the pc port without something going wrong. But you put everything in such a digestible manner with good graphics that I was able to follow along every step of the way. great video.

[@SemiHypercube]

I can't believe there's this much to talk about a green mushroom flickering

[@ModelCitizen2]

You're a remarkably good teacher and visual communicator.

[@L3X1N]

The shounic of Super Mario 64 returns to the scene once again! Personally, I think you could've spent a couple seconds explaining that activeness also controlled objects' _behavior,_ not just whether the were rendered onscreen, and as such wasn't redundant to the visibility variable; other than that oversight, this was a very informative and entertaining video. Good job

[@MarioMastr]

Legend says he’s still running away from the 1-Up to this very day.

[@Entwicklungshustle]

Dude, you're explaining it as if we were completely dumb 😂 EXACTLY what we need

[@leftysheppey]

But even if you do know, it doesn't feel patronising. He states lots of things as sort of a reminder, but still explains it well. Idk, Great stuff

[@oxymoreproducer]

Making a 12 mins video to explain a devs' oopsie daisy. If that's not dedication I don't know what is. Very clear explanations btw 👍✨

[@switchmaster64]

I think there’s something weird in Mario Sunshine’s blue coin flickering also. In sirena beach, they’ll only flicker for a very short time if you spawn one on a different floor and jump up to it

[@DarkOmegaMK2]

THANK YOU FOR SAVING THAT ONE UP, IT WAS ONE OF MY GREATEST PAINS AND SUFFERINGS FOR ALL MY LIFE BUT NOW THAT YOU DID IT NOW I CAN LIVE IN PEACE, NOW I HAVE SEEN THE TRUE LIGHT, I AM CONVULSING WITH HAPPINESS

[@hanss6983]

how do I turn on my dad's rendering

[@FilthyPitDog]

Nice

[@NoNameAtAll2]

just get closer than 3000 units

[@verticalquack]

I think you need to drop the baby penguin off of the map.

[@marcelinehvh]

Try getting a 100 coin star

[@cypher686]

Not worth it. My dad was a lying cheat that broke our family completely. Ruined my life, my fiancés parents didn’t want their daughter to marry into my family because of it, so I ended up losing her, couldn’t concentrate with my PG exams as all this happened in the few months before exam, lost my job as I didn’t pass my exams, had to sell my home as mortgage payments were too high and now I’m starting again. So yeah, had rendering been off the whole time, I wouldn’t have had to deal with all this shit

[@Agentao]

This editing is top notch, I’m emotionally invested in the blue and grey arrows now

[@rosilinathedragon4382]

Always an amazing day when Pannen uploads! Hope you’re doing well dude

[@sumthinorother9615]

It’s a fun thing clicking this video, realizing there’s audio 30 seconds in, recognizing what channel this is, and smiling. I hope this stuff’s been treating you well.

[@nodrance]

Damn, the quality here is incredible. You've got sound effects on your transitions, custom art, well thought out explanations. You could put in half as much effort and still be an amazing explanation channel.

[@tearlesssole188]

I’m so happy for the one up who got to flicker. Good for them!

[@TSMSnation]

I never thought every object had its own parameters for distance, I always though mario just have a circle around him that things would react to.

[@Antractica]

I'd wager that's how it was originally set up until some sort of issue arose.

[@admg2005]

inconsequential videogame knowledge like this is what I love!

[@Butterscotch_96]

I was playing this video as background audio and not paying much attention. Started paying attention halfway through and I am so confused.

[@HylianSwordsman1]

I just watched a video explaining, in gratuitous detail, an obscure, inconsequential glitch in a 27 year old game caused by a mistake in programming for an overlooked system no one ever thinks about, all to answer a question I never thought to ask, and I liked it.

[@GokigenyouToshinoKyoko]

Me:" Super Mario 64." My neighbours:" Super Mario 64." Everyone else:" Super Mario 64." Pannenkoek2012:" Süper Märiou SixtehFo."

[@josaicmosaic]

what i love about pannens videos is that he explains everything in such a simple way that anyone can understand, pius good subtitles.

[@threemoo]

As a game programmer, it hurts to see an absolute failure in testing here. This programmer wrote the code knowing it was simple to test and didn't test it.

[@jeremey2072]

It's just writing tests consume too much time for some managers.

[@PixlPixel]

I'm a very visual learner, and my brain gets fried hearing info without being shown easy to break down examples. This episode's diagrams really helped me digest what I was hearing, so thank you for that. Its crazy learning new things about this game!!

[@lior_haddad]

code analysis is always fun

[@Lodekac]

Absolutely amazing! I'm so happy you're back to making videos.

[@dutssz]

I feel like you didn't really mention why exactly both states of activeness and visibility exist, and why a developer would opt to change one over the other, in both examples (goomba vs. bully and the 6 different 1-ups) there's a difference between the subjects mechanically. When the goomba disappears it also stops moving, as an enemy that should be plentiful in the stages it would be demanding to always check their pathing and collision so it just stops everything altogether, all the while, when the bully disappears, since it is a mini-boss enemy, it appears with less frequency in level so the game can afford to always check for it. In that way, the two mushroom cases that don't flicker, it is needed to change visibility over activeness, for if it would become inactive before hitting a wall it would stay in the level for as long as Mario doesn't get too close to it, filling data unnecessarily

[@TarenGarond]

Is there really any need to change any of them? The object will just remove itself(With a flicker) after the timer or getting out of range.

[@Benjy52]

Pannenkoek uploads again?! What *is* this source of motivation?

[@GoodrichT6]

Pannen you are seriously one of the most entertaining and inspiring people on this platform. I love what you do, and I hope you are having a good day! Keep up the good work man

[@stephnicole3078]

You are insanely good at explaining these concepts that might have been confusing otherwise! Thank you for taking the time to explain and edit this explanation. I really enjoyed this!

[@modestMismagius105]

activity arrow: I consent flickering arrow: I consent distance arrow: I DON'T! isn't there someone you forgot to ask? (this was way funnier in my head lol)

[@monkeywithakeyboard722]

I remember watching your videos before highschool back when they were text only, and always being fascinated by how much you could glean from seemingly small details. Glad to see you back.

[@jan_Eten]

10:50 love wins

[@RyuakiraX]

Your more humor-implemented editing is pretty great.

[@Verlisify]

very well edited

[@theclashingcrafter5354]

Seeing Pannen talk again is an absolute blessing